Helping the Dems

Letters to the Editor

May 08, 2010

You have published two remarkable letters in defense of Gov. Bob McDonnell that reflect the flimsiness of the excuses for his mean-spirited Confederate History Month proclamation. The first, "Focus now," April 15, wondered why people were making a fuss over the failure to mention slavery since everyone involved was long dead. But all those who fought on the Confederate side are long dead as well — and this fact, using the author's "logic," would have argued for no proclamation at all.

As some have noted, a Civil War History Month would have been a much more appropriate way to stimulate tourism.

The second letter, "Remember the past," April 19, denounces those who regret the shame of Virginia's slaveholding past as chronic whiners but glorifies those who, in essence, still grieve that the North took away the South's right to perpetuate this most horrendous of sins. That one could equate one with the other simply boggles the mind.

The silver lining in all this is that McDonnell and the base he is courting will energize voters in Virginia and around the country come this fall and in 2012.

This proclamation, insensitive at best and racist at worst, and the feeble rationales of those who defend it will remind all those who voted Democratic in 2008 that every vote in every election is important.

Sure, President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress may have disappointed us occasionally — but thanks to this debacle, we are reminded that they are much better than the alternative.